Chapter 81: End; Death dancing in the Masquerade (9)
After conquering the demon world in the sixth iteration, by the time he laid his hands on strength that had exceeded the boundaries of a human, Yu Jitae felt awkward every time he looked at other humans.
The way they walked, and the way they breathed were awkward. From life to death – the system of life itself felt terrible.
Everything in existence was unaware of the proper way to walk and couldn’t breathe efficiently. Like a lame puppet imitating the movements of a human, every organism living in the world was crude.
The world had changed in one day.
It took some time until he realised that it was himself that had changed. The world was still the same, and the humans weren’t lame.
Yu Jitae was the one that had changed.
Kugugugugu…
A black chain lock devoid of light snapped. A Level 5 artifact, [Binds of h.e.l.l] oppressing his heart loosened.
Kugugugugugugugugu…
He found a pair of red eyes enlarge from shock. Noah was baffled.
What Yu Jitae had suppressed inside him was his killing intent; the desire to destroy and kill something. The world that had been restructured with Noah’s imagination began trembling despite Yu Jitae merely unlocking the previous suppression.
The earths were overturned and the sky collapsed. [Divine Spear of Pairan] which had been flying at Yu Jitae started crumbling into large fragments.
While the entire world was crumbling, Yu Jitae merely stood still and gazed at the sky.
Slowly, his senses returned to himself.
Front and back, left and right, up and down, far and close – he began comprehending these concepts in their original ways.
The direction of [Sixth Sense] changed from the ‘world’ back to himself. When that happened, the world’s framework which had been tempered by Noah was no longer able to affect Yu Jitae in any way.
His senses had become a level clearer as Yu Jitae dashed forward. He lowered his body before kicking up while the ground sunk down behind him.
After kicking off the ground, Yu Jitae propelled himself towards the Divine Spear of Pairan.
The large thorn had half-crumbled already and it’s hideous interior was in full display. Red sparks of lightning aimed for his body and violently splattered from nearby. It was a restraining lightning that would hinder him from dodging the spear.
Yu Jitae wasn’t thinking of dodging in the first place. From the front, he flew forward at the Divine Spear of Pairan.
It was like a meteorite strike.
The large thorn crumbled and fell as tens of thousands of fragments the size of a car.
Power the world had never seen.
Standing in front of the contorting world, Noah raised his voice that echoed across the world.
[This is impossible—-.]
The world was falling apart. His imagination was faltering. What appeared here and there were grey dimensional gaps that couldn’t be filled with Noah’s imagination.
[How can this possibly happen–.]
[How dare a mere mortal—-!!]
Leaving those words behind, Noah’s body disappeared. After understanding that his world was being disintegrated, Noah once again upturned the world inside his dream.
When Yu Jitae re-opened his eyes, a strange world was waiting for him.
If Earth was a world created on top of a ball, this was a world composed inside a ball. When he looked closer, he could see the opposite side of the continent on the other side of the sky. In the middle, there was a light source which subst.i.tuted the Sun.
However, the environment was nothing like Earth. Red lava flowed through the crevices on the ground and an extremely hot air filled the surroundings. All the mountains were active volcanoes while volcanic ash fell like snow.
It appeared like an alternate world where outer s.p.a.ce didn’t exist.
[Kill that man—-!]
In response to Noah’s words, an enormous monster revealed itself from the sun. With a body constantly on flame and lava flowing down, it had five heads of different species – namely that of a human, a horse, a goat, a lion and an eagle.
The monster appeared like a spirit but also resembled a chimera.
“…”
There were no issues here.
Yu Jitae flew up and started destroying the monster.
Noah had now become one with the world of dreams. In order to kill him, Yu Jitae therefore had to wait until his imagination ran out.
Once he inspected it closer, it was obvious that the background was far from perfect. Like a photo taken from a low resolution camera, the background was disjointed at places, and the shadows were odd.
In contrast to that, the monster in front was clear and distinct all around. Thus, Yu Jitae decided to crush it.
There was no reason for him to struggle like back in the fifth iteration. His current self was different from back then.
[Do you think I will go down like this—-?]
Once again, the world crumbled down. Within the world that showed blank s.p.a.ces of grey here and there, Noah continued pouring out his imagination.
***
[How could a mere mortal do this—?]
There was a tower crashing down from the sky. The tower barely remained standing while being supported by an ancient beast.
This was the world of [Karkua], a great ancient monster.
Yu Jitae killed Karkua and collapsed the tower.
[What mindless being has granted you with a power like this—!]
An endless ocean of poison stretched out. A large snake lived in the depths, and this monster with the name [Bysarquay] was a monster that absorbed the power of anything it devoured.
At the start it was small but later devoured all of its enemies inside the ocean and eventually the poison flowing inside its body had filled the ocean.
Yu Jitae crushed Bysarquay’s head and killed it.
[How can such Providence exist in my timeline—!]
It was a world with a night sky filled with white shooting stars.
Shrrrrr—-. Kwaaaaaang–!
Yellow meteorites bloomed from the sky before collapsing and destroying everything on the ground.
This was the world where Noah was born and nurtured in. At the same time, it was a world that had been met with an apocalypse. Therefore, an apocalypse which was more detailed and exquisite than others was unraveled before Yu Jitae’s eyes. Since there was no opponent to crush, he quietly watched the apocalypse unfold.
It was similar to a scenery which he had seen several times already. He didn’t feel much from it.
The apocalypse didn’t end with just one day. It only took a few moments for the meteorites to crush the world, but soon the ground was unable to tolerate the shock and exploded open as lava flowed out. Mana churned like a hail and covered the entire world while he had to wait and see the apocalypse through the perspective of the planet, not as a human.
Several weeks pa.s.sed,
Followed by a few months.
Yu Jitae did not die.
He had not been damaged a single time, and the nameless alternate world met its apocalypse while leaving Yu Jitae behind.
Back then, Noah seemed to have been swallowed into a dimensional fissure before the world completely collapsed. Thus when the world reached a point that he couldn’t remember, the world began scattering in ash.
“Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—-!!”
Noah finally showed himself as he frantically screamed out. He had practically lost all his imagination. Yu Jitae was certain because he saw things even greater than what he had seen in the previous rounds of regression.
“Finished?”
Yu Jitae wandered through the grey dimension and approached him. There was no longer a young human full of dignity. He had blanched hair with significant hair loss and a face full of wrinkles.
Noah, who had gotten old in a short period of time, kneeled down and looked up at Yu Jitae.
“Why not just give up halfway in after realising your loss.”
The first time Yu Jitae came across him was in the fourth iteration. Back then, he avoided him because he wasn’t be able to win.
“You all are pathetic.”
Next was in the fifth iteration. He fought him inside his dream for several years and after his imagination ran out, Yu Jitae expelled him outside a fissure while destroying a portion of the Eurasia continent.
That had once again taken several hundred days.
“Each and every one of you, always gives me trouble.”
In the sixth iteration, Yu Jitae had ruled the Earth with fear from the very start. The demons curled their tails in, hid in a corner and bided their time. Due to that, when the Second Great War occurred after 20 years or so, Yu Jitae had been fatigued several times more than before.
They would hide every time he saw one, and after hiding they hatched more eggs and waited for an opportunity.
Therefore, killing required the correct time and place.
Now was an example.
“Just die now.”
Yu Jitae raised his [Shapeless Sword (SS)]
“Kuk, kuuuk…”
That was when the old Noah suddenly started trembling his body.
He was curious about the reason he was suddenly doing this but there was no need to wait for him. Yu Jitae drove his sword forward.
But suddenly, a white hand came out from behind Noah’s back and held onto Yu Jitae’s Shapeless Sword.
In the blink of an eye, a white girl covered in pure white was standing behind Noah. There had been no signs, traces nor a presence.
Soon, the grey world began changing yet again.
However, this time it wasn’t a detailed material world that showed up. As if he was thrown out in the middle of outer s.p.a.ce, no light or object existed near him and the beginning and end of the dimension was unknown.
There, the shining white girl opened her mouth.
[h.e.l.lo, dear twisted existence.]
“…”
It was his first time seeing it face-to-face because the abyss of that place wasn’t accessible from Earth’s dimension.
However, Yu Jitae realised it.
Sometimes they would appear in the shape of an evil dragon, or a large flying object covering the entire world. Occasionally they would appear like the little girl in front.
The lord of all lords; the producer of the deepest abyss.
[Third Lord of the Abyss, Ny-ar-la]
That divine existence showed itself in front of Yu Jitae.
“…”
Yu Jitae put more strength into the hand holding onto the Shapeless Sword, but the blade did not move a single inch from the girl’s hand.
It was strange. The third lord had never shown itself in other iterations even when Noah was beaten to a pulp.
[Do you know me?]
It was a clear and transparent voice along with her rather sacred and dignified atmosphere. Yu Jitae scattered the killing intent that had gathered in his fingertips.
“That’s strange… I did hear that you had interest in your contractor.”
That interest was nothing but weird.
In response to Yu Jitae’s words, the girl gave a wide smile.
[Yeah. I decided to show myself here because this child didn’t die.]
The palace of the third lord was located at a very distant place even inside the depths of the abyss.
That place wasn’t connected to Earth. Like how Yu Jitae couldn’t go to Askalifa, it would require a fair bit of price for someone even at the level of a lord of the abyss, to directly send their intent like this.
“Is that your business? Keeping Noah alive?”
The girl shook her head. Light fragments scattered like powder.
[If it was just that, I wouldn’t have come. I came in order to see you, dear warped and twisted existence.]
“What business do you have with me.”
[We gaze upon a lot of dimensions. There are lots and lots of dimensions and many creations live the life of mortals. But in the very depths under the ground, you have started gathering the eyes of everyone.]
It wasn’t surprising considering that he had just recently crushed the palace of Lakshata, the Seventh Lord of the Abyss.
The Abyss would have been in a panic. Although it wouldn’t be like people in the human world chattering while watching TV, it was certain that many lords were interested in Yu Jitae.
[Don’t kill this child please.]
Yu Jitae’s frown twitched.
[You cannot stay in that world. A small movement of your body will ruin the world, the dimension.]
[In a distant future, your existence will definitely have a bad influence.]
[But… I know that you’re not an existence that can be regulated. Thus, I decided to watch on through this child. I will wait for the time to move until you leave this world since that is our only joy.]
Yu Jitae did not respond.
[If you do so, I will give you a present.]
It was then.
Vintage Clock began sending him a message.
A dimension with an unknown name? Was it a reflection of Noah’s dream?
Yu Jitae raised his eyes and gazed at the black world which was different from before.
Looking closer, he realised that this place contained two black dimensions stuck with one another. Like the meeting point of the ocean and the atmosphere, he could see black things endlessly fluctuating and moving each other in the distance.
Since he couldn’t see the end he had thought of this place as a conceptual dimension but that was wrong. When he followed the surface areas of the two darknesses and turned his gaze, he discovered that the swaying continued even to a distance difficult to fathom.
This was a dimension that truly existed.
Yu Jitae’s eyes shot wide open.
Horizon of Providence? This place?
[How is it?]
As if confident, the girl placed her hands on her waist and pushed her chest forward. It was a gesture that imitated a human’s movement.
The Horizon of Providence…
If this place was modelled after the actual dimension, Yu Jitae didn’t have to collect Hostility. It would be possible to lead the seventh iteration in a safer and stabler manner.
[The present is still a secret. But it’s something that will definitely help you.]
Indeed, it was tempting.
The fact that ‘Ny-ar-la’ bothered to draw this dimension inside the world of dream implied that her gift would be related to the Horizon of Providence.
[Besides, you can’t even kill Noah because there’s a reason this poor child must live. It’s just his mind that will gradually collapse from your violence.]
However, the girl’s words failed to ring his heart.
“No.”
[…Nn?]
The atmosphere changed.
Killing intent formed at the end of Yu Jitae’s gaze.
[Shapeless Sword (SS) – 4th Form]
At the start, the authority was extremely peaceful. Killing intent moved easily and just like when the lord came out from Noah’s body, there were no preceding signs or a presence.
The resulting shape of the revealed killing intent was the same as Shapeless Sword, but the quality of killing intent gathered within was different.
The lord stared at Yu Jitae. Not a single change had occurred from him. His expression was still indifferent and his body remained still. Despite that, his gaze suddenly turned heavy as it began suppressing its illusionary body.
Sound disappeared from the black dimension as if someone had forcibly cut it off. Then, the beating heart of the dying Noah became louder, and Yu Jitae’s heartbeat and breath which was slightly louder than that, started resonating the world with an ominous vibration.
The smile had disappeared from the girl’s face. Wearing a frown, she looked at Yu Jitae.
[You, what are you doing…?]
“…”
Laughably,
Even a transcendent existence like this was unaware of the things that had happened to Yu Jitae after the fifth iteration came to an end.
Currently Yu Jitae was able to kill Noah and he did not need a.s.sistance from someone with a vile intention.
This was his authority that had cut the head of the archduke of the demon world.
[G.o.d Slaying Form]
—–.
The sword drew a horizontal line through the world.
The girl’s head dropped.